Favorite Time of Year
by RLBB
Summary: A Christmas themed Audrey/Nathan one-shot following the events of the Holiday episode 'Silent Night'.


So I couldn't help myself. I just really wanted to write a Nathan/Audrey Christmas one-shot. Set during 2X13. 'Silent Night'.

Hope you like it!

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><p>The party was starting to disband as Haven's finest began trudging down the steps of Audrey's apartment and to their cars. Duke had left about ten minutes earlier after it became apparent Audrey wasn't going to talk about the strange events that had unfolded that day in Haven. Plus all the officers milling around seemed to be making him nervous.<p>

Nathan watched as the young girl, Hadley, gave Audrey a hug and said goodbye, leaving with her parents. Vince and Dave followed them, still arguing about what they should print as a cover up story in the Herald the next day.

Audrey turned away from the open French doors and tilted her head.

"You're not leaving?"

"Figured I'd stay and help you clean up. You're not going to leave these decorations up are you? It is you know, July" Nathan said making his way over to the couch in front of the fireplace. Audrey followed, flopping down onto the seat next to him.

"I don't know. I kind of like it. All the decorations, it's actually…nice. Growing up Christmas was not usually something to get excited about, ever since then I've never cared about the lights, tree-"

"Mistletoe" Nathan interjected raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, and Mistletoe" She said looking around the room and smiling to herself.

"Besides, isn't Christmas your favorite time of year?" she asked him, leaning back into the sofa.

Nathan looked at her; he assumed all of this was tied to the troubles and the still unclear events of that day.

"It is. But it's also not _actually_ December" he angled his body towards hers and gave her a look that seemed to say 'what actually happened today?'.

Audrey launched into a recount of what had happened, explaining the disappearances and the eventual "snowglobization" of Haven, as she called it. She even explained how she found out about Nathan and Duke's shared desire for a 'Chrome Lightning'.

"So you and Hadley were the only two left in town?" Nathan asked as she finished.

"Yeah, it was really unsettling actually. One minute someone would be right next to you and the next they would disappear entirely. Like you, in the toy store" Audrey said looking away, not wanting to betray how much that moment had really scared her. She stood up, walking toward the table with the punch bowl.

"I'm just going to start cleaning up" she said, picking up discarded mugs and flutes and placing them in the sink.

Nathan sat on the couch a moment longer thinking about everything Audrey had just told him before he stood up to help her clean up the apartment. They worked mostly in silence but occasionally Nathan would hear Audrey faintly humming what sounded like 'Jingle Bells'. As Audrey put the last items away Nathan stood near the tree looking at all of the decorations. When she joined him he turned to look at her.

"Parker?" He asked drawing her attention away from the lights.

"I'm sorry I didn't believe you. Earlier I mean" he said.

"Oh, no Nathan it's-", He cut her off.

"No. You're my partner. I trust you" He said looking into her eyes. She was silent but her mind jumped back to the moment earlier that day when they were in the office. His words were so similar to what she had asked him.

"Thank you" she said once again, smiling at him.

This time Nathan smiled back. "So, we all done here?"

"Yeah, I'll take the decorations down in the next couple of days. I'm not ready to part with them just yet"

"Ah, I see you've developed some Christmas spirit. Looks like I won't have to bribe Duke to dress up as Santa again" he said. He still couldn't believe he had tried that.

Audrey laughed appreciatively and nodded.

"Well I guess I'm going to head out. Hopefully tomorrow will be less eventful at the Haven PD" Nathan made to leave but Audrey grabbed his arm.

"Wait."

Nathan turned around and gave her a quizzical look. Audrey just pointed upwards. Nathan's eyes wandered towards the ceiling and registered the mistletoe. The same mistletoe he and Duke had awkwardly been under a few short hours ago.

Audrey was not quite sure what she was doing. It was probably the "Christmas spirit" mixed with the champagne plus her reminder of how important Nathan was to her after the events of that day that made her do it. That's what she told herself at least. As Nathan turned his head down to look at her once more she straightened her back and put one hand on his shoulder, she was glad she wore heels tonight, it helped lessen the height gab between them. Before Nathan could say something, she craned her head and gently kissed him on the lips. She held herself there for a few seconds, enjoying the warmth and softness, before quickly pulling away and walking to the door.

"Uh, goodnight" she said, leaning against one of the doors trying not to make direct eye contact.

Nathan was sufficiently stunned. He forced himself to focus walk out the door. He turned around momentarily to wish her goodnight as well and then started down the steps as she closed the doors.

Once he reached the Bronco he paused, closing his eyes, and allowed himself to relive the kiss in his mind. After a few seconds he unlocked the door of the truck and hopped in, smiling to himself. He could not wait until actual Christmas. It really was his favorite time of year.

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><p>What did you think? I really wanted to do something related to the Silent Night episode and I figured Christmastime would be as good as any to post it.<p>

Please leave me a review and let me know what you thought :)

Merry Christmas! Or if you don't celebrate Christmas then Happy Holidays! Hope you are all doing well!


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